Hello everyone,
I think I've found something a bit crazy.
Greater Cognitive Mutagen allows me to gain an Intelligence-based skill chosen at creation. Lores are Intelligence-based skills. And Quick Alchemy allows me to produce Cognitive Mutagens when I want.
So, let's say I want to identify a Thassilonian wooden idol, I can use Quick Alchemy to gain Lore (Thasilonian idol). Even better, I can choose Lore (Thassilonian wooden idol) or Lore (this idol).
Basically, I can't fail my check after than, thanks to the crazy bonus hyper specialized Lores give you on top of the item bonus from Cognitive Mutagen.
But Lores are not limited to Intelligence-based checks. I can take Lore (Negociation with drows) for example if I have to deal with them. I would understand if the DM asks me to roll it under Charisma, but I still get the item bonus from Cognitive Mutagen and the bonus for hyper specialization.
Is it RAW? I don't find anything forbidding me to do it.
As a DM, how would you handle a player using this loophole?
I don't really see a loophole. Yes, you can use the mutagen to train yourself in a lore skill, but whether the lore skill you pick is a valid subcategory and how much of a bonus you get on that check is explicitly entirely a matter of GM discretion.
Even at its absolute most abusive, you're gaining a moderate bonus to what's probably going to be a single recall knowledge check over if you had simply used the mutagen 'normally' which... hardly seems like the end of the world.
I don't really see a loophole. Yes, you can use the mutagen to train yourself in a lore skill, but whether the lore skill you pick is a valid subcategory and how much of a bonus you get on that check is explicitly entirely a matter of GM discretion.
Even at its absolute most abusive, you're gaining a moderate bonus to what's probably going to be a single recall knowledge check over if you had simply used the mutagen 'normally' which... hardly seems like the end of the world.
Lores cover more than Recall Knowledge checks. If you want to sail a boat, you'll roll Lore (Sailing), and Lore (Laborer) if you want to plow a field. And you can very often replace a specific skill with a very thematic Lore skill. For example, if I take a random PFS adventure, I see I can use Swamp Lore instead of Survival/Nature/Perception to navigate a Swamp and find hazards, and later a Lore (Hunting) to replace a Diplomacy check to gather information. It strongly hints that using the proper Lore skill at the right moment allows you to replace any type of skill checks. And on top of that you add a +3/4 item bonus to the check and you use Intelligence to roll it (even if the DM can ask for another attribute but I've never seen it). Then, we can add the specialization bonus which is GM-dependent, I agree on that.